Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1E22 (S1 Finale) - "Beginning of the End" Recap

A new employee is being show around a Cybertek mission base that resembles a call centre but these employees are responsible for controlling Centipede soldiers. They are about to start a battle with Coulson and his team. The Centipeded soldiers are defeated (what do you expect when you're facing off against May?) and they get away.

Garrett seems un-phased by this news and begins drawing on a glass with a nail. He feels high on life after being injected with GH-325. Ward asks if they'll be joining up with Hydra and Garrett says that it is bigger than Hydra. Garrett finishes his drawing of interlocking circles and lines.

Skye's Trojan Horse was successful but FitzSimmons are not responding, though they did manage to tag the plane, allowing Skye to track it. Coulson tells the team that catching Garrett is their only way of finding FitzSimmons, if they are still alive. Coulson gives his team a pep talk as they prepare to invade Cybertek. May's not necessarily ready to change the world, but she is ready to kick some ass. FitzSimmons are still trapped in the room which has sunk at least 90 feet, according to Fitz's calculations. He's also got a broken arm and Simmons is struggling to stay optimistic.

Ward asks Raina to talk to Garrett, being concerned about his state of mind following his recent injection. Raina comes in to find him watching the Gravitonium. She admits she was sad to learn he wasn't clairvoyant because she had a question to ask. He tells her to ask anyway and she asks what she will become.

Simmons and Fitz discuss death and if anything comes after. Simmons talks about the First Law of Thermodynamics and how their energies will always be a part of living things just as they always have. Simmons then realises that they could melt the seal and blow the window in, thus enabling them to escape.

Quinn is showing the army around Cybertek and brings them to the Deathlok chair.

Outside, Coulson and Trip steal a tank and blow a hole for May and Skye to get through.

Garrett interrupts Quinn's tour, angering the General, and then Garrett turns around and rips the General's rib out before stabbing him with it. He says it is the beginning of the end. Ward is horrified and confronts Raina who is leaving with Quinn and the Gravitonium. Ward wants to know what she said to him and Raina says that Garrett is "connecting now" and agrees with him while Ward is merely following him. Raina says they need Skye, which is all Ward ever wanted, saying that she will be a part of the evolution to come. Ward says that Skye detests him and thinks he's a monster. She asks him if that is his true nature or simply what Garrett made him to be. Ward doesn't know. Raina points out that Skye's parents are proof of there being darkness inside her and perhaps someday the two of them could be monsters together.

Centipede soldiers attack the tank containing Coulson and Trip while May and Skye get inside the centre, threatening the people with a bomb. This leads the "dealer" to switch the soldiers to "default directive," which is to protect Garrett. This was part of the plan, allowing Coulson to be led right to him.

Skye calls Garrett from Deathlok's phone to gloat, but the turns around and tells her FitzSimmons are dead, and she angrily hangs up. He then order Ward, who had been begging for orders, to get Skye.

FitzSimmons are preparing to blow the window. Fitz tells Simmons there's only one mask that'll give enough air to get to the surface. He's insisting that she take it, saying he couldn't live if she didn't take it. She gets angry about his making her do it, saying he's her best friend in the world. He confesses that she's more than that to him and pleads to her to let him prove it. She becomes emotional but he puts the mask on her and blows the window. She grabs hold of him and swims to the surface, screaming for help upon reaching it. Who then arrives to pull her out? NICK FURY.

Simmons wakes in a decompression chamber and Fury tells her Fitz is being tended to, as his brain was without oxygen for a while. Fury was looking for Coulson when he found them and asks if she has anything that could help him find him.

Ward heads into the call centre and begins taunting Skye. She angrily tells him that Fitz was a hero for wanting to believe in Ward. She tells Ward that Garrett is the evil one, while he is simply weak. Skye says she has a weapon better than the bomb that will destroy him and who comes flying through to attack? Melinda freaking May, of course! Cue a brilliant fight between the two that even includes power tools. It's one of the best brawls of the entire season and then May literally staples Ward to the floor and knocks him out.

Coulson tracks down Garrett, who sends him flying and landing at the feet of Nick Fury. Garrett doesn't see that Fury is there but does give Coulson the giant weapon he had attempted to kill Loki with in The Avengers. Coulson is able to take out the Centipede soldiers but Garrett simply won't go down. Fury reveals himself and his gun isn't able to help much either. Garrett monologues about being "blood brothers" with Coulson and Fury notes that Coulson didn't tell him Garrett had gone that crazy. Fury gets annoyed by Garrett's getting his inspiring speech wrong and Garrett orders Deathlok to shoot his arm-gun at Fury and Coulson. Unfortunately, Skye has gotten the Cybertek call-guy to the "incentives program," which has been mentioned more than once in this episode: it's the family members of the Cybertek employees held captive under threat of violence. She finds the "ace in the hole" - Ace Peterson. She asks for a message to prove he is safe and sends it to Mike's eye feed through her phone. Mike reads the message, "Dad, what are we? We are a team." Peterson then shoots his arm-gun at Garrett and stomps him out.

Garrett is packed up into a coffin, the Cybertek soldiers are sent to have the serum and eye-bombs removed. Coulson tells Ward that Fitz may never be the same. "You devoted your entire life to a deranged narcissist who never gave a damn about anyone. And now he's dead. You've got the rest of your life to wrestle with the question, 'Who are you without him?'"

Skye speaks with Mike, who is watching Ace from afar. He doesn't want Mike to see him as a murderer and simply wants to make amends for all that he has done.

Garrett breaks free from his coffin and pulls himself up onto the Deathlok chair. HE screams as he is rebuilt, but upon completion, he smiles and says, "There's a reason why they say, 'Cut off the head.'" He's about to say he'll be unstoppable but then Coulson blasts him with the 0-8-4.

Back on the Bus, Coulson scolds Fury for putting him through TAHITI and Fury says May had everything under control and that guys like Coulson were the heart of S.H.I.E.L.D. But now, he will be the head. He gives Coulson a toolbox to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. from scratch, taking his time to do it right, and there's no one else he trusts more to do this. He tells Coulson that the way to do it is however he likes, being the new Director. Fury will be dropping off the radar, but he'll still be "everywhere."

The team is reunited with Simmons and she tells him that Fitz is alive, not elaborating any further. They are at another secret base, which was in the Coulson's new toolbox and they meet another Agent Koening, but this one is named Billy. He welcomes them to "The Playground," and says everyone will get lanyards on a case-by-case basis. He asks Coulson where he would like to start.

Raina heads down a hallway to meet someone in an otherwise empty room. She says "I know you thought you'd never see me again, but I found your daughter." She hands the man a photograph of Skye, and he picks it up, only allowing us to see the figure's bloody arm. It's unclear whose blood it is.

That night, Coulson can't sleep so he gets up and begins carving a large map of circles and lines onto a wall, much like the one we saw Garrett carving onto glass.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will return for Season 2 in Autumn 2014 on ABC on Tuesdays at 9PM! Also be sure to check out Marvel's Agent Carter, a new series that will see the brilliant Hayley Atwell back in action as Peggy Carter!